ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Erin Grant, a former assistant coach on the Lobo women’s basketball staff, returns to New Mexico as head coach Mike Bradbury announced her as an assistant coach Wednesday afternoon. Grant returns after a four-year stint as an assistant at Memphis.
“We are excited to add Erin to our staff,” Bradbury said. “She has a high-level of recruiting and coaching experience from her time in Memphis, Texas and New Mexico and has a dynamic, charismatic and confident personality that will be a great help for this program.”
In her four years with the Tigers, Grant helped in developing freshman guard Ariel Hearn into a C-USA All-Freshman Team pick, as Hearn led Memphis with 109 assists in 2012-13, becoming the first Tigers freshman since 1982-83 to dish out 100 or more assists in a season. The next two seasons (2013-14, 2014-15), Grant continued to have a hand in Hearn’s development, as the Tigers guard garnered All-American Athletic Conference honors.
Grant helped another freshman shatter that mark one season later, molding Breigha Wilder-Cochran into an American Athletic Conference All-Freshman Team selection after handing out 125 assists and ranking third in assists (4.2 apg) in one of the premier women’s basketball conferences.
Prior to her tenure at Memphis, Grant spent one season as an assistant coach for the Lobos. That year she helped the Lobos make a run at the Mountain West Tournament championship game. As a guards coach at New Mexico, Grant helped junior Caroline Durbin to her first career All-MW First Team honor after the guard led the league in three-point field goal percentage.
Grant spent four seasons as an assistant at UT Arlington, where she helped the program to its second WNIT appearance in 2009. That 2008-09 UT Arlington team finished with a 22-11 overall mark.
Grant was a four-year standout point guard at Texas Tech. She played for legendary coach Marsha Sharp, helping the Red Raiders compile a mark of 93-36 in her four seasons. She was a three-time All-Big 12 Conference honoree, including first team accolades in 2005 and 2006. Grant was also a three-time Big-12 All-Academic First Team pick and was the Big 12 co-Freshman of the Year in 2003 when her 228 assists led the league and set the freshman single-season assists record.
As a senior in 2006, Grant was a Kodak/WBCA All-America finalist and an AP All-America Honorable Mention selection. She played in the WBCA All-Star Challenge following her senior campaign and was the 39th overall pick in the 2006 WNBA Draft by the Seattle Storm.
She also played overseas, helping the Stockholm 08 team to the Swedish Championship and earning the championship’s MVP award. Grant completed the 2006 season with the WNBA Houston Comets before beginning her coaching career at UT Arlington in the 2007-08 season.